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Protestor reported killed as tensions
simmer in Turkey's Kurdish regions
17.11.2005
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ANKARA, Nov 16 (AFP)
- 18h13 - One person was killed and 15 injured in
the mainly Kurdish province of Hakkari in
southeastern Turkey on Wednesday in flaring violence
between Kurdish protestors and the security forces,
Anatolia news agency reported.
The protestor died while on his way to hospital
after sustaining serious injuries during a
demonstration in Hakkari city to condemn a deadly
bomb attack in a nearby town last week, widely
blamed on members of the security forces, Anatolia
quoted unnamed officials as saying.
The death brings to five the number of people killed
in almost daily riots since the November 9 bombing
of a bookstore in Semdinli owned by a former Kurdish
guerrilla.
Five policemen and 10 protestors were injured in the
unrest, which saw the security forces use tear gas
and fire shots in the air to disperse the crowd,
Anatolia said.
Three people were killed in clashes in Yuksekova
town, also in Hakkari province, on Tuesday.
Another person was shot dead in riots that broke out
after the bombing in Semdinli, when an angry crowd
almost lynched three people suspected of carrying
out the attack.
One of them, who allegedly hurled the bomb and was
later arrested, turned out to be a former Kurdish
guerilla working as an informer for the gendarmerie,
an army unit policing rural areas.
The two others -- both gendarmerie officers -- were
set free, while a third soldier, accused of firing
at the crowd, was also arrested.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged calm in
the region, renewing a pledge that those responsible
for the bombing would be punished.
"No action outside law is acceptable," Erdogan said
after a meeting of his party leadership to discuss
the incidents.
"We are aware how sensitive our citizens are on this
issue and we are determined to shed light on it," he
said. "Our citizens should be patient until the
legal procedures are completed."
Erdogan claimed the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),
which has fought the Turkish government since 1984,
was fuelling unrest in the region through "a
disinformation campaign" over the Semdinli bombing.
The Kurdish conflict in Turkey has claimed some
37,000 lives since 1984 when the PKK, blacklisted as
a terrorist group by Ankara as well as the European
Union and the United States, took up arms for
Kurdish self-rule in the southeast.
AFP
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